Fun in the forest

I got four more rides in this week, culminating in a nice 100 minute ride this afternoon at the Woodhill Bike Park, in the Woodhill Forest, a large Pine forest about 30 minutes North West of Auckland.


Not Woodhill but you get the idea. Photo by Irargerich

It was my first off road ride with the new clip in pedals. I wanted some off road practice before the Xterra Mountain Bike race in Rotorua next month. I still haven't entered this yet but the consensus from various comments seems to be that I should. Budget constraints have been one reason that I have held off entering to date. May be I should just to my bit for the economy and spend the cash.

The ride went well. I'm still a bit of a novice really at this off road stuff and am by no means a speedster on the downhills. I like the challenge and variety of it though and of course it offers a totally different experience to what most of my rides tend to be on the smooth seal of our roads.

I only had one spill when I lost all forward momentum while tackling a small rise in the wrong gear. Before I knew it, and before a had time un clip my foot from the pedal, I was toppling over sideways and backwards at the same time. I ended up flat on my back, sliding backwards a small way on soft forest floor of sand and pine needles. Fortunately for me there were no trees where I fell or it could have been a bit nasty.

I'm off to Queenstown and Invercargill for work next week and my good wife Michelle has invited herself along of the trip. I'll be working on Monday and Tuesday visiting colleagues, but we will be heading down Queenstown, the country's premier resort town, a couple of days early on Saturday. It will be just the two of us with the boys staying with the grand parents for the four days. It will be a great little escape for us just three months out from the arrival of our wee baby girl. I'll be sure to post some photos of the trip.


Photo by Cheetah

I'll end this post with a funny quote from my five year old son Sam. Sam asked me tonight .. "Does your boss watch you to make sure you eat all your lunch?", in reference to his teacher having to watch over her class to ensure all the kids eat their lunch. Oh how things change as we grow up, I think whether I have any lunch would be the least of his concerns.

Have a good week.